Cueva Blanca lies in a volcanic tuff cliff some 4 km northwest of Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico. It is one of a series of Archaic sites excavated by Kent Flannery and Frank Hole as part of a project on the prehistory and human ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca. The oldest stratigraphic level in Cueva Blanca yielded Late Pleistocene fauna, including some species no longer present in southern Mexico. The second oldest level, Zone E, produced Early Archaic material with calibrated dates as old as 11,000–10,000 BC .  Zones D and C provided a rich Late Archaic assemblage whose closest ties are with the Abejas phase of Puebla’s Tehuacán Valley (fourth millennium BC).  Spatial analyses undertaken on the Archaic living floors include (1) the drawing of density contours for tools and animal bones; (2) a search for Archaic tool kits using rank-order and cluster analysis; and (3) an attempt to define Binfordian “drop zones” using an approach drawn from computer vision.

Using more than 300 illustrations, the authors present an encyclopedic analysis of the many types of pottery found in the Oaxaca Valley in the Early Formative period. From details of sherd profiles and tempers to discussions of the growth of various villages, this volume is an exhaustively thorough treatment of the topic and represents decades of archaeological fieldwork in the region.

In 1974, Michael E. Whalen excavated the Formative site of Tomaltepec, a village with houses, public buildings, and a large cemetery. Here he reports on the results of the excavation and provides a regional perspective on Formative period development in the Valley of Oaxaca.

In order to study canal irrigation in the Valley of Oaxaca, archaeologist Susan H. Lees visited more than 20 villages in the region. She interviewed residents and photographed local water systems. In this volume, Lees analyzes the relationship between water control and local and state government; compares Oaxacan irrigation with that in other regions; and assesses the role of organized labor in the establishment and maintenance of an irrigation system.